


Happy, Great, Wonderful

by gotemsayingwow



Category: Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket (Anime 2001), Fruits Basket (Anime 2019), Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff without Plot, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:27:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26415661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gotemsayingwow/pseuds/gotemsayingwow
Summary: A day at the beach conjures bittersweet memories and excitement for the future.
Relationships: Honda Tohru/Sohma Kyou
Comments: 1
Kudos: 49





	Happy, Great, Wonderful

A note on the kitchen table alerted him that they were at the beach. As Kyo Sohma ate the lunch his wife left out on the counter for him, he basked in the quiet kitchen, appreciating the moment of peace.

He should have known the house would be empty when he got home from work that afternoon. He woke up at dawn, the distant sound of the TV pulling him out of his sleep. He rose to find Hajime with his eyes glued to the weather channel sitting alongside his younger brother. The weatherman reported it was the first day that summer that there wasn’t a threat of rain. When Tohru and Emiko joined them downstairs an hour later, Hajime reported, quoting the weatherman verbatim, “It’s the perfect day to go to the beach.”

Hajime had been begging for weeks on end to spend a day at the beach, but each time his plans were foiled. A surprise storm, unexpected summer homework, and his pesky siblings’ conflicting nap times won each time. So today, when the weather was to be “perfect” and Hajime had finished all of his summer homework, Kyo imagined he practically dragged his mother and siblings out of the house and down to the shore.

Two thirds of Kyo and Tohru’s children loved the beach. Hajime had an affinity for water since he was born, always eager to splash around in the sink or tromp down to the beach. His younger brother, Seiji, followed in Hajime’s footsteps, not so much because he, too, loved water, but because he loved whatever his older brother loved. 

When it was just the two boys, the family of four spent full days in the summer at the beach. Kyo was wildly outnumbered and forced to spend hours in the waves. True, he did appreciate it more now that he was with his family. And sure, he was no longer possessed by the cat spirit. He just didn’t see the appeal of getting all sandy and wet. But he did it because it made the rest of them happy.

His daughter, however, hated the ocean. She detested it. On her first visit to the beach as a baby, when Tohru gently set her down on the beach blanket, Emiko immediately began screaming. Tohru and the boys tried to coax her into the water. Kyo took her to dip her feet in--she never minded water at home. But all of their efforts were for naught; Emiko simply hated the beach.

So now, whenever the family spent the day on the shore, Kyo and Tohru bribed her with her favorite foods and brought her favorite toy. Typically, Kyo babysat while the rest of them played in the shallow surf. 

He could have stayed in the house to enjoy the quiet, especially because it so rarely was empty during the day, but he missed all of them. And he figured joining them was the least he could do after Hajime had been so desperate.

It was a quick walk down to the beach, only about four blocks. When they had bought the house so many years ago, Tohru was thrilled with the prospect of the beach being so close. In fact, Kyo presumed the reason Hajime loved the beach so much was because they had spent countless hours playing in the surf when he was a baby. 

It was quiet on the beach, despite the weather forecast. He quickly spotted the familiar yellow umbrella and walked towards it. As he approached, he could see Tohru standing in the waves, holding both of Seiji’s hands as she lifted him up above each wave. Hajime was busy collecting shells in a small plastic bucket, presumably to decorate the sandcastle they had constructed next to their blanket.

Emiko was sleeping curled up on a towel under the umbrella. Her hand clutched a stick of dango, two of the three treats missing from the skewer. Kyo took a seat next to her in the shade, content to watch Tohru and the boys play for a few minutes before he joined them.

He gently moved the dark hair out of the toddler’s eyes as she slept, admiring her peaceful face as he did so. He was half tempted to lay down and nap right along with her. It was certainly enticing, especially in the warm sun, but he turned his gaze to the three of them down by the waves.

Between the breeze and the gentle crash of the surf, he couldn’t make out what Tohru was saying, but every time a wave came in, she shouted something and lifted Seiji high into the air before swinging his feet down into the water. Seiji erupted in giggles each time, which had her laughing, too. 

She looked absolutely beautiful standing there and he thoroughly admired the view. Her hair was loose, cascading in soft waves down her back. Her swimsuit, a polka dotted number gifted to her by Uotani, complemented her figure well and he appreciated the fact that it was a two piece, allowing him to view even more of her delectable skin. He didn’t even bother resisting his perversions, sitting there staring at her. He had nothing to hide or be ashamed of anymore.

She still wore that same straw hat she’d had for years. She refused to throw it away, even at his insistence that they could find a similar hat that didn’t have holes in it. But there were certain memories she didn’t want to throw away, she’d explained. And while he found it ridiculous for her to wear a hat that barely protected her from the sun, he didn't mind clinging to those memories either. 

So much had changed since that first trip they took to the beach, over ten years ago now. That trip was tinged with melancholy, especially on his end. Admitting to himself just how much he loved her and wanted to be with her was overwhelming. Being reminded of just how much he loved her as they spent long afternoons together in the sand was heart wrenching. 

Then, just having the chance to be in Tohru’s presence felt like it was enough for him. In truth, he needed so much more. It was why he made silly comments to hear her laughter or why he played along with her silly games just so he could spend time with her. It was why he was devastated when she was hurt on that trip and why he knew, if nothing else, he just wanted her to be safe and happy, even at his expense.

Now, the beach made him feel more free and more happy than he'd ever imagined feeling. He could appreciate the pure joy of watching his children (well, the majority of his children) play in the sand. He could enjoy his wife, who tirelessly played alongside them. They could enjoy the moments together, where she would lean her head on his shoulder and admire the view. He loved it because of the joy it brought in their lives, even though that joy grew from darkness. He loved it because it was messy and wild and chaotic and beautiful, just like the family they'd created.

He was about to stand up and join them when a gust of wind whisked Tohru’s hat off of her head and down the beach. Hajime, noticing this, instinctively abandoned his bucket of shells and took off after the hat, snatching it just before a wave did. 

Hajime skipped back to Tohru, who was now kneeling in the sand holding Seiji against her hip. With her free hand, she clutched Hajime close to her chest and kissed his cheek, presumably thanking him for his chivalry. Hajime, in turn, beamed at her, giggling as a wave came in and knocked Tohru off balance.

She stood and turned, catching Kyo’s eye. Her smile was dazzling as she pointed and released the two boys, who came tearing up the beach towards their father. Kyo flew backward into the sand as his sons barreled into him at full force.

“You're all wet,” he complained. Hajime responded by shaking his wet hair onto his father’s face.

Tohru joined them, scooping Emiko up in her arms and sitting down next to her husband. She greeted him with a gentle kiss, the kind that still made him blush.

“Careful or you'll wake the sea monster,” Kyo joked after the boys had run back to the waves, presumably to pick back up their shell finding mission.

“Oh, she needs to wake up anyway,” Tohru said. She pulled the final dango off of the skewer and pinched it into two pieces, handing one to Kyo and popping the other in her mouth. “I almost lost my hat.”

“I saw,” Kyo mused with a smile. “We might have to staple it back together and then staple it onto your head.”

Tohru smiled wistfully, leaning her head against his shoulder. “Hajime grabbed it for me and it made me feel so…”

“Happy?” Kyo guessed, unable to fight a matching wistful smile on his face.

“Happy, proud, reflective...a little bit sad.”

“What on Earth could have made you sad about that?” 

She sniffled and he could feel a tear slip off her cheek and onto his shirt. “Because one day he’ll go catch someone else’s hat,” she whimpered. “Someone he’s in love with. And he won’t come running back to me like that...and it will all just be so…”

“Happy, great, wonderful,” Kyo listed, filling in the blanks of her sentence with his own opinion. It wasn’t the first time she had cried about this. He couldn’t possibly imagine what she would be like when, one day, Hajime did leave the house, go to university, get married, whatever he decided to do with his life. 

“But then who will get my hat?” She sobbed.

“Dope,” he responded with a chuckle. “The same person who got your damn hat before it was filled with holes. I’ll even run back into your arms if you want me to.”

She sniffled, but he could feel her smile against his shoulder. “You’ll be too old to run.”

“Fine, then, I’ll hobble. But by that point it will be a single piece of straw, so luckily it won’t be too heavy for me to carry.”

The boys traipsed back up the sand to their parents, a bucket full of broken pieces of shell. Hajime, noticing the wetness of his mother’s eyes, looked to his father, concerned.

“Why’s mama crying?” He asked.

“I’m crying because…” Tohru started, but Kyo cut her off.

Kyo stood, grabbing Emiko from Tohru’s lap and pulling Tohru to her feet. “She’s crying because she’s excited,” Kyo lied as he gently roused his daughter fully from her sleep. Emiko looked confused as to her surroundings and hadn’t quite yet figured out they were in her least favorite place. “Because today is the day we finally teach your sister to love the ocean.”

Tohru smiled up at her husband and nodded. “It’s true,” she responded, patting both of the boys on the tops of their orange heads. From their cooler bag, she handed them each a stick of dango and sent them back down to the waves. She beamed as Kyo and the boys gently coaxed her daughter into the shallow surf. Kyo sat patiently in the sand, dipping Emiko’s toes in and out, while the boys fed her dango until she finally stopped crying. 

Kyo turned, beckoning for Tohru to come and join them, and she did. She sat next to her husband in the sand, appreciating, this time without tears, the time she did have with the kids so young. 

She turned to him, a soft smile on her lips, and said “you’re right.”

“About what?” 

“It will be. It is,” she mused. “Happy, great, wonderful.”

**Author's Note:**

> Another cross post from FFN that I'm finally getting around to uploading here. Thanks for all of the support and kindness on my tooth decaying, fluffy, gratuitously cheesy works. I'm gotemsayingwow on FFN and gotemsayingw0w on Tumblr


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